Optimal inductor design for surface hardening of cylindrical billets based on numerical two-dimensional model

Contemporary industrial production widely uses induction heating prior to the plastic deformation and heat treatment operations due to the benefits it provides in comparison with other types of heating technologies. In order to increase the efficiency of induction heating units and develop their operation mode, the research should be directed towards new design solutions in optimizing constructive parameters of inductors and control algorithms of heating processes. The main goal of the research is developing the best inductor design, which provides maximum temperature uniformity in the surface layer of the billet at the end of heating time. There has been formulated the problem of the inductor unit optimal design with respect to steel cylindrical billets, which can be solved by using the alternance method of parametric optimization of the systems with distributed parameters. Design parameters of the induction heating installation that include the geometry features and the current of power supply are considered as optimized parameters. Software package FLUX was used for developing 2D numerical model of interrelated magnetic and temperature fields in the process of induction heating to describe the system ‘induction heater–billet’. The results of numeric solution of the problem of optimal design have been analyzed.